Monday, October 24, 2005

Poker Stars Blogger Championships Results and Recap

The big day arrived and I logged in to play in the Blogger Championship on Poker Stars. 1473 players entered with the winner heading to the Bahamas for a free seat into the WPT Poker Stars Caribbean Adventure. There were plenty of other prizes including a 24" Fat Screen Monitor for 2nd through 6th place, X Boxes for places 7-16, iPod Nanos for 17-36 and Hats & Tshirts for places 37-99. Of course Poker Stars was kind enough to put out a bounty on my head... a free hat and tshirt which was won my terrymr when he busted me in 932nd place. I heard that Daddy took me in a prop bet against Bad Blood. Too bad I didn't last longer.

Congrats to Easy Wind who is the lucky focker going to the Bahamas! He outlasted 1472 other players and a tough table that was 2/3 full of European players, including 4 from the United Kingdom. Here's who made the final table (courtesy of Otis):

I had a great time and I hope that Poker Stars will do this for the EPT Monte Carlo event and future WPT events. It's always fun playing with your friends and meeting readers of my blog for the first time at the tables. People were saying a lot of funny stuff to me. I got plenty of Redneck Riviera jokes and one guy even asked me, "Pauly do you like gladiator movies?"

It's a quote from Airplane! and cracked me up.

Moving on...

I don't have too many highlights. Mostly everyone at my table was sitting out so I played extra aggressive to pick up chips early.

4:02pm... I had Dave O'Callahan at my starting table who is a third generation poker player from Ireland. He's buddies with Mike Lacey and Tom Murhpy from Antes Up. I met him in Barcelona for the EPT event. He was at the feature TV table and I had a beer with him during one of the breaks.

4:20om... With 6-6, I flopped a set on a board of 6-7-8. The turn was a 7 and I had a boat. I slow played the flop and the turn and called small bets both times. On the river, I check raised a small amount and was caled with 7-6o. Ouch. I'm lucky he didn't bet more.

4:49pm ... I doubled with with A-A vs. 4-4. I had T2700.

4:56pm... K-K does not get paid off.

5:17pm... I busted out when I went all-in on a steal with 8-9s against a limper and both blinds wp were sitting out. He called with A-2 and rivered an ace on me after I flopped a pair of 8s. I was out in 932rd place. Terrymr won a bounty. Congrats!

Bobby Bracelet played great and had some guy berating him in the chat. Here's a sample of the assclown's tirade:

I got a kick out of it. Bobby and April both played great, along with Chris Halverson, Mourn, Poker Geek, Lifes a Grand, Hagbard, Tuscaloosa Johnny, Kid Dynomite, and ScottMcMillian.

Congrats to again to Easy Wind who won the first ever Bloggers Championship when he beat simonvlc of Spain heads up! Easy Wind won three crucial pots late in the tournament. One was an amazing call with A-5o and two clubs on the board. He had middle pair and was check raised byRibs who moved all in. Easy Wind called and Ribs missed his flush draw. That was a $2M pot. A few minutes later, he would knock Ribs out when he flopped a nut flush draw and top pair. He turned his flush and Ribs was eliminated in 3rd place.

On the winning hand, simonvlc was outchipped almost 6 to 1. With 9-4o, Easy Wind caught some of the flop and bet out. simovlc moved all in over the top with just ace high and Easy Wind called. His hand held up and he won the 2006 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Prize Package. Great job!

Here are some bustouts of bloggers that I know of. If I missed you, I apologize in advance. Feel free to leave your ranking in the comments and if I get off my lazy ass on Monday, I'll add it and might even get around to coding the hyperlinks to everyone's blog!

Congrats again to everyone who made the money. Congrats again to the winner Easy Wind! Thanks again to everyone at Poker Stars including Ryan and Otis. Let's hope they do this again next week.

******

Update: My comments section is currently down for some unknown reason. I got a man on a job -- I found some dude with duct tape, a blow torch, and a screwdriver and he's hard at work fixing the comments section. Feel free to shoot me an email in the meantime if the comments section is still down!

By the way, congrats to StB of Beer City Poker who wont he blogger essay contest!!

Apologies to Halverson, who I left off my list during the inital publication of this entry!!